Can the 22-year-old Halifax Harrier win Britain’s first Olympic medal in the men’s 800m since Seb Coe 40 years ago? If so, his tactics need to be perfect
Max Burgin’s stop-start, injury-stricken career is finally taking off in the Stade de France this week. On Friday (Aug 9) he ran a PB of 1:43.50 in his semi-final to become the first British runner to make an Olympic men’s 800m final since Andrew Osagie in 2012.
Osagie was seventh in that race in London 12 years ago, whereas Curtis Robb placed sixth in Barcelona in 1992 and Peter Elliott was fourth in Seoul 1988, so you have to go back to 1984 for the last time a Brit made the podium when Seb Coe was runner-up to Joaquim Cruz of Brazil.
Can the enigmatic talent from Halifax win a medal in Paris? The 22-year-old’s rich ability has been clear from his record-breaking teenage years but he has been bedevilled with injuries in recent seasons.
Two years ago he arrived at World Championships in Eugene as the fastest man in the world but was unable to make the start line due to a blood clot in his calf and ended up having to spend a spell in a mobility scooter. “I didn’t watch the final,” he said. “I was too bitter.”
Max Burgin (Getty)
During 2023 and last winter he struggled to train properly due to persistent Achilles problems. Such were the issues, he resorted to wearing Vaporfly shoes as slippers to ease the pressure on his heels.
In December, however, he finally had the problem diagnosed and discovered it wasn’t the actual Achilles tendons but an irritated sural nerve in both legs.
At the UK Championships in June he qualified for Paris by finishing runner-up to Ben Pattison at the trials off limited training. Since then things have gone better and he is hoping to make his mark on Saturday night against a strong field that features world No.1 Djamel Sedjati of Algeria and reigning world champion Marco Arop of Canada, whereas the presence of Gabriel Tual of France will ensure a huge atmosphere.
Max Burgin with Bryce Hoppel and Emmanuel Wanyonyi (Getty)
“I’m over the moon,” Burgin said. “I thought it might be hard to get to the final. I was in the call room having second thoughts with my previous times compared to everyone else’s.”
Despite his lack of racing, though, he ran a solid tactical race, well placed at the bell, refusing to panic down the back straight when there was the danger of being boxed and then powering through the final 100m to finish third behind winner…
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